I hope you all had a lovely Book Night. I know I certainly did. 🙂 I’ll be putting up a post about it as soon as I stop procrastinating. (And I will definitely be writing some more reviews— they’ve been severely lacking these past couple of weeks.) But…

I have decided that I will be creating a new series here on Yasimone!

The Bookish Guide to Being Happy!

I’m excited and I really hope you like it! The other day, I was just thinking, What makes me happy? And of course the answer is reading! But why? I wanted to explore that idea a little bit more and also share ways to help others to be happy as well, so without further ado, here’s the first installment!

#1: Read Comfort Books When You’re Feeling Down

Reading makes me happy. It makes many others happy as well.

Why? Well, you can learn so much and gain so much from books— things like ideas, knowledge, and even happiness. 🙂 You can travel to places unknown and places familiar through the most magic of portals, and see what stories have been spun inside people’s heads.

Books can mean what you want them to mean, and they can be your closest friends, your confidantes, and your accomplices all in one. Books are everything in this world, and infinitely more. So I believe that it’s quite safe to say that books make a lot of us happy. 🙂

Some books are the comfort food of the literary world. Here are some that are bound to cheer you up.

Harry Potter- Can you believe that I’ve never mentioned these books on my blog before?! I love those books, always have, always will. 🙂 I started them when I was in first grade, if I remember correctly, and I have read them many, many times since. It’s impossible not to feel good after reading about magic and the fantastic adventures of Harry and the Hogwarts students. Reviews will be coming soon.

Wendy Mass- Wendy Mass writes feel-good-about-yourself-and-the-world kind of books. You can’t help but be inspired and proud of the human population once you’re through. Friendship, grief, love, family, magic.

The Chronicles of Narnia- Travel to faraway lands with Lucy, Susan, Peter, and Edmund. Engage in exciting adventures. Enjoy. (Again, this series has magic in it, and magic seems to be a reoccurring theme on this list. Seems that magic just makes me happy.)

Geronimo Stilton- Ah, the books of my childhood. Colourful and entertaining, the antics of Geronimo Stilton, the publisher and editor of a newspaper,
Look how bright and fun they are!

The Daily Gazette, and his family are sure to please anybody, from children to the elderly. Oh, and did I mention that Geronimo Stilton— and everybody else in New Mouse City, his hometown— is a mouse? They’re so much fun to read, and the illustrations and special fonts just make it better.

There are so many books that you can read to feel better after a hard day: books that are more than just pieces of paper bound together. So here’s to happiness, and here’s to reading!

Hope you liked that! What do you think is the one of the best ways to be and stay happy?

❤ Yasimone

Update~ 11th October 2015: Hey everyone, I’ve decided not to continue this series since a) it’s October right now and I haven’t done a second post for this, and b) it’s a little too similar to my Book Chats. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I’ve just thought it out and feel that it would be more practical to not add any more posts to this series. This one will still be up in case you want to read it again, however. 🙂 Thanks for understanding!

Rory Swenson has been waiting forever to turn twelve years old. Literally, all her life. And finally, the day has (almost) come. Luckily, Rory is prepared— she has a to-do list.

Big Things

1. Get a cell phone.

2. Stay home alone.

3. Get my own screen name so I can IM.

4. Shave my legs.

5. Go to the mall with Annabelle and no parents.

6. Wear makeup.

7. Get a pet.

8. Babysit.

9. Get my ears pierced.

10. Get contact lenses.

11. Attend Natalie Karp’s boy-girl birthday party.

Smaller (But Still Very Important and Worthwhile) Stuff

1. Get my own house key.

2. Go to bed at 9:30 pm.

3. Drink coffee.

4. Watch Friday the 13th Part IX.

5. Sit in the front seat of the car.

6. Do my homework without anyone checking it.

7. Pick out my own clothes.

8. Use electrical appliances without permission or supervision.

9. Walk home from school.

10. Buy lunch in the cafeteria.

11. Ride an upside-down roller coaster.

So how does Rory’s birthday go? Well, not exactly the best. She drinks coffee for the first time, and— oops— caffeine overload! But then her parents allow her to get a phone (albeit “the lamest cell phone in the history of cell phones”)! In less than fifteen minutes, Rory manages to lose it. Thank goodness her father forced her to buy insurance policy. When she gets her second phone, she receives quite a few calls— but not from the people she expected. All of that, however, is minor compared to the fact that she’s 12! In no time, Rory starts her quest: completing her list. However, things do not turn out exactly as planned. Turns out she’s allergic to make-up… and earrings… and eye-contacts are more dangerous than they seem. Her bunny, Kyle, tries to murder her. She stars as an extra in a movie being taken in her very own hometown (!) but keeps on showing up either hurt or swollen up. She gets a locker slammed in her face by a famous movie star. And maybe boy-girl parties aren’t what they’re all cracked up to be. But Rory makes quite a few friends— including the eccentric Amanda and Leo, a clever ten-year-old, a ballerina, and a wise old woman with a duck-shaped birthmark, and sees that the road to your goal is not as rewarding as helping those you meet on the way.

Yup, this is the sort-of sequel to 11 Birthdays. Wendy Mass is at it again, writing touching but funny stories about growing up. Rory is an awesome character: she’s sweet and down-to-earth but really, really clumsy. She’s just trying to make the best of her newly-gained independence and her crazy mistakes. Her parents are also pretty cool, I must say. They may be overprotective but they are understanding and actually have a sense of humour. The ending is absolutely amazing, I won’t spoil it but I think it’s my favourite part of the book. To quote Angelina, who is the duck-shaped birthmark woman by the way, “You won’t get what you want until you see what you need.”

Amanda Ellerby is about to turn eleven. She’s stuck having a costume party she doesn’t really want, and wearing a very uncomfortable costume. But most of all, it’s the first year she isn’t having her birthday with Leo. Leo is her best friend ex-best friend. They were even born on the same day. But one year ago, on their 10th birthday, Leo said something terrible, and Amanda hasn’t talked to him since. After an okay-ish day at school (she has a pop-quiz!), her birthday celebrations are not going well: half the guests haven’t even shown up, and the other half are slowly leaving her party to go to Leo’s huge birthday bash. 😐 *sheds tear* Amanda is extremely relieved when, finally, the day is over. Blissfully, she goes to sleep. But the next morning, everything happens exactly the way they do yesterday! At first Amanda thinks it’s a twisted trick. But when the same thing happens the next day, Amanda understands that something else is at work. But what? Before long, Leo and Amanda realize that, for some strange reason, they are in it together: they need to forgive each other and find out what exactly is causing their 11th birthday repeat over and over. Along the way, they meet a mysterious kind elderly woman with a duck-shaped birthmark who knows quite a bit about their ancestors and in the end, see that friendship is important in ways they never imagined.

Wendy Mass is, I must say, also one of my absolute favourite writers. She combines the real world and magic one seamlessly. Amanda and Leo are ordinary kids who act just their age and are true-to-life. The writing keeps you interested and turning pages eagerly. This is a heartwarming book that shows that friendship can be broken, but much more easily fixed.

Hello everyone! Today is January 31st, and that means it has been one month since New Year’s Eve— but more importantly, one month since I started blogging on yasimone.com! 😀 It’s quite hard to believe that it has been a whole month since I wrote my very first post, so to celebrate, I will be doing not one, but two book reviews in a row this weekend: “11 Birthdays” and “Finally,” both by Wendy Mass. Enjoy, and thanks for being with me since December 31st! ❤